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Progress has been steady and the end result thrilling as the community of Holyoke enjoys a new all-weather track around the HHS football field on the corner of Morlan Avenue and Hale Street.

Final details are tentatively expected to be completed by Thursday afternoon, Sept. 12, at which time the track will open for public use. School personnel ask that citizens watch the signs that are posted for further use instructions.

While the process of getting a new track spanned a number of years, not a minute has been wasted from the time the GOCO grant was approved on June 11.

A Musco four-pole lighting system was set in August in time for the Aug. 30 opening football game of the year with Perkins County, Neb. The track surface was also completed for the admiration of the football crowd.

A second-grade P.E. class initiates the new running track

—Enterprise photo

Striping the lanes was finished over the Labor Day weekend, and further work on leveling the ground on the edges of the track was quick to follow and is being completed this week.

The eight-lane post-tensioned concrete base with red all-weather polyurethane bound surface track will soon be ready for the community.

New runways and/or pits for triple jump, long jump, high jump and pole vault are also part of the project.

Yet to be completed are landscaping, the restroom renovation and a 10-piece outdoor exercise station that will be installed between the visitors’ bleachers and the practice field on the east side of the track.

In June, the school district moved the sprinklers and did other prep work leading in to moving the track to the east. No changes were made to the location of the football field.

Ivan Castillo, pictured at right, and Wyatt Sprague sprint down the freshly painted lanes of the recently completed track at Max Bernard Field during a P.E. class last week.

—Enterprise photo

Also during the month of June, rough grade was performed and compaction testing was done. Aggregate base composition (a rock/sand mix) was brought in, and the final grade was done.

July progress found framing, plastic and rebar in place, and the first straightaways were poured on July 12 and 15. The crews finished pouring concrete on July 17-19, with a 28-day cure period starting at that point.

Event areas were poured during the week of July 22-26, and tensioning of the cables occurred three to five days following the pour.

A dedication ceremony for the new track will not be held until next spring, at a home track event. But in the meantime, it’s ready and waiting for community use.